News Desk

President Donald Trump has thrown himself into the ongoing debate over the United States government shutdown, calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster and reopen the government.

But that idea was swiftly rejected on Friday by Republican leaders who have long opposed such a move.

The filibuster refers to a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to overcome objections. Currently, that rule gives the minority Democrats a check on Republican power in the Senate.

In the chamber that’s currently split 53 to 47, Democrats have had enough votes to keep the government closed while they demand an extension of healthcare subsidies. Yet, neither party has seriously wanted to nuke the rule.

“THE CHOICE IS CLEAR – INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION,’ GET RID OF THE FILIBUSTER,” Trump said in a late-night social media post Thursday.

Trump’s sudden decision to assert himself in the now 31-day-long shutdown – with his highly charged demand to end the filibuster – is certain to set the Senate on edge. It could spur senators towards their own compromise or send the chamber spiralling towards a new sense of crisis. Or, it might be ignored.

Republican leaders responded quickly, and unequivocally, setting themselves at odds with Trump, a president few have dared to publicly counter.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said he is not considering changing the rules to end the shutdown, arguing that it is vital to the institution of the Senate and has allowed Republicans to halt Democratic policies when they are in the minority.

The leader’s “position on the importance of the legislative filibuster is unchanged”, Thune spokesman Ryan Wrasse said Friday.

A spokeswoman for Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, the number-two Republican, said his position opposing a filibuster change also remains unchanged.

And former Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who firmly opposed Trump’s filibuster pleas in his first term, remains in the Senate.

House Speaker Mike Johnson also defended the filibuster Friday, while conceding “it’s not my call” from his chamber across the Capitol.

“The safeguard in the Senate has always been the filibuster,” Johnson said, adding that Trump’s comments are a reflection of “the president’s anger at the situation”.

Even if Thune wanted to change the filibuster, he would not currently have the votes to do so in the divided Senate.

“The filibuster forces us to find common ground in the Senate,” Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah posted on the social media platform X on Friday morning, responding to Trump’s comments. “Power changes hands, but principles shouldn’t. I’m a firm no on eliminating it.”

Debate has swirled around the legislative filibuster for years. Many Democrats pushed to eliminate it when they had full power in Washington, as the Republicans do now, four years ago.

But ultimately, enough Democratic senators opposed the move, predicting such an action would come back to haunt them.

Trump’s demand comes as he has declined to engage with Democratic leaders on ways to end the shutdown, on track to become the longest in history.

He said in his post that he gave a “great deal” of thought to his choice on his flight home from Asia, and that one question that kept coming up during his trip was why “powerful Republicans allow” the Democrats to shut down parts of the government.

But later Friday, he did not mention the filibuster again as he spoke to reporters departing Washington and arriving in Florida for a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home.

While quiet talks are under way, particularly among bipartisan senators, Trump has not been seriously involved.

Democrats refuse to vote to reopen the government until Republicans negotiate an extension to the healthcare subsidies. The Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government is reopened.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on CNN that Trump needs to start negotiating with Democrats, arguing the president has spent more time with global leaders than dealing with the shutdown back home.

From coast to coast, fallout from the dysfunction of the shuttered federal government is hitting home. SNAP food aid is scheduled to shut off. Flights are being delayed. Workers are going without paychecks.

And Americans are getting a first glimpse of the skyrocketing healthcare insurance costs that are at the centre of the deadlock.

“People are stressing,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as food options in her state grow scarce. “We are well past time to have this behind us.”

“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” star Jesse Eisenberg may soon one-up the film franchise’s Robin Hood-esque Four Horsemen in the giving-back department.

This December, the Academy Award nominee and longtime blood donor will give one of his kidneys to a complete stranger, he said Thursday on the “Today” show. He slipped the news into a conversation with host Craig Melvin about a recent show-sponsored blood drive.

As Melvin and his co-hosts reacted in disbelief, Eisenberg said, “I really am [donating].”

“I don’t know why. I got bitten by the blood donation bug,” he said, adding that he was “so excited” to make the nondirected (a.k.a. “altruistic”) donation, wherein a living donor is not related to or known by the recipient.

According to the National Kidney Registry, approximately 90,000 people in the U.S. are currently in need of a kidney transplant, while roughly 6,000 people donate kidneys each year. Less than 5% of those already slim donations are nondirected.

Eisenberg said he suspected that if people knew how safe the process was, those numbers would go up.

“It’s essentially risk-free and so needed,” Eisenberg said in a separate interview with Today.com. “I think people will realize that it’s a no-brainer, if you have the time and the inclination.”

“The Social Network” alum added that prospective donors need not worry about forking over a kidney and later facing a situation wherein a family member urgently needs one.

“The way it works now is you can put a list of whoever you would like to be the first [relative] to be at the top of the list,” he said, referring to the National Kidney Registry’s family voucher program. The program launched in 2019, preceded by an earlier “standard” iteration that required the voucher donor to name a voucher holder who had some form of kidney impairment. (The standard voucher option is still available to donors as well.)

“Not only does this remove an important disincentive to living kidney donation, but it is the right thing to do for the generous people who are donating a kidney to a stranger. Donors can now donate a kidney and still provide security for their loved ones should they need a kidney transplant in the future,” Dr. Jeff Veale, who helped pioneer the voucher system, said in a statement at the time of the program update.

Recovery is also a non-issue for most kidney donors, who on average return to daily activities within a few weeks of the surgery, per the Mayo Clinic.

“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” hits theaters Nov. 14, nearly a decade after the previous installment in the franchise premiered. Eisenberg stars alongside returning cast members Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco and newcomers Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt and Rosamund Pike.

United States President Donald Trump has announced that Nigeria will be placed on a watchlist for religious freedom, based on vague claims that Christians in the country are being “slaughtered” by Muslims.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump explained that the African nation would be added to a Department of State list of “Countries of Particular Concern”.

“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria,” Trump wrote. “Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN’.”

The Nigerian government has denied such allegations in the past. But critics warn that designating Nigeria a “country of particular concern” could pave the way for future sanctions.

Trump also appears to have bypassed the normal procedure for such matters.

The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act created the category of “country of particular concern” in order to help monitor religious persecution and advocate for its end.

But that label is usually assigned at the recommendation of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom – a bipartisan group established by Congress – and specialists in the State Department.

In Friday’s post, Trump explained that he had asked the House Appropriations Committee and two congressmen, Representatives Riley Moore and Tom Cole, to “immediately look into this matter”. Both are Republican.

Trump’s claims appear to mirror language pushed by right-wing lawmakers, which frames fractious and sometimes violent disputes in Nigeria as a case of radical Islamists attacking Christians.

Experts, however, have called that framing largely inaccurate, explaining that strife in the country is not explained simply by religious differences.

Nigeria is divided between a majority-Muslim north and a largely Christian south. The country has struggled with violent attacks from the group Boko Haram, which has created turmoil and displacement for more than a decade.

Disputes over resources such as water have also exacerbated tensions and sometimes led to violent clashes between largely Christian farmers and largely Muslim shepherds. Nigeria has denied, however, that such clashes are primarily motivated by religious affiliation.

Still, Representative Moore echoed Trump’s assessment in a statement after Friday’s announcement.

“I have been calling for this designation since my first floor speech in April, where I highlighted the plight of Christians in Muslim majority countries,” Moore said.

He added that he planned to “ensure that Nigeria receives the international attention, pressure, and accountability it urgently needs”.

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, another Republican, also applauded Trump’s decision. “I am deeply gratified to President Trump for making this determination,” he said in a news release. “I have fought for years to counter the slaughter and persecution of Christians in Nigeria.”

Since returning to office for a second term in January, Trump has sought to bolster his base among the Christian right in the US.

At a prayer breakfast in February, he announced his administration was establishing a task force to root out anti-Christian bias in the federal government.

Later, in July, his administration issued a memo allowing federal employees to evangelise in their workplaces.

While Trump denounced alleged anti-Christian violence in Friday’s post, his administration has also been recently criticised for its policy towards refugees: people fleeing persecution or violence in their homelands.

On Wednesday, Trump announced the lowest-ever cap on refugee admissions in the US, limiting entry to just 7,500 people for all of fiscal year 2026.

In a notice posted to the Federal Register’s website, he explained that most of those spots would “primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa” and “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination”.

Critics were quick to point out that refugee status is awarded for fear of systematic persecution, not discrimination.

Still, Trump has continued to ratchet up diplomatic tensions with South Africa, falsely claiming that white Afrikaners are subjected to a “genocide”, an allegation frequently pushed by figures on the far right.

Here are the key events from day 1,346 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Saturday, November 1, 2025:

Fighting

• Russian forces killed eight people and injured 18 others in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in the past day, the Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Vadym Filashkin, reported on Facebook on Friday.
• Five people were killed, and three others injured, when two different cars hit explosive devices in a forest area of Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region on Friday, local police said, adding that they are “investigating the circumstances” of the “two car bombings in the border zone”.
• Russian forces launched 673 attacks on 19 settlements in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region in a day, killing at least three people and injuring 29, governor Ivan Fedorov wrote in a post on Telegram.
• A 56-year-old woman was killed, and four other people were wounded, in Russian shelling of the Dnipro district of Ukraine’s Kherson region, the Kherson Regional Military Administration wrote in a post on Telegram on Friday.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that 170,000 Russian troops are deployed near the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk but that the city is not encircled, according to Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.
• Russian forces seized the Ukrainian village of Novooleksandrivka, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claim.
• Ukrainian shelling left more than 2,000 households without electricity in the town of Kamianka-Dniprovska in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, TASS reported, citing local officials.
• Ukraine’s navy said on Friday it struck a Russian thermal power plant in the Oryol region and an electric substation in Novobryansk with Neptune cruise missiles.

• Ukrainian forces have hit 160 Russian oil and energy facilities so far this year, the head of the SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk, told reporters on Friday.

Politics and diplomacy

• Moldova’s parliament chose Alexandru Munteanu as its new prime minister, in support of the country’s efforts to join the European Union and move further away from Russia.

Sanctions

• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he hopes to convince United States President Donald Trump that Hungary should be exempted from US sanctions on Russian oil because of its high dependence on pipeline networks for its energy supplies. Orban also noted that Germany had sought an exemption for one of its refineries.
• The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday it had banned entrance to Russia for more European Union officials in response to new European sanctions against Russia, without providing a list of banned individuals.
• The European Commission said on Friday that export bans on Ukrainian foods imposed by three EU members – Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – were not justified now that an updated EU-Ukraine free trade agreement has entered force.

Regional security

Weapons

• The Pentagon has told the White House that providing Tomahawk weapons to Ukraine would not negatively impact US stockpiles, CNN reported, citing three unnamed US and European officials.

Ariana Grande has been confirmed to star in the 13th season of American Horror Story alongside a host of franchise regulars

American Horror Story season 13 has revealed its star-studded line-up will feature pop sensation Ariana Grande alongside a roster of franchise favourites.

The two-time Grammy Award winner, currently portraying Glinda in the musical films Wicked and its forthcoming sequel, will lead the series with an ensemble cast.

Whilst she’s never featured in the acclaimed horror anthology previously, she has collaborated with its creator Ryan Murphy on the cult favourite series Scream Queens, which launched a decade ago and spanned two seasons.

Grande is joined by several cast members unveiled this Halloween, including Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe and Leslie Grossman.

The official line-up was revealed on Murphy’s Instagram account through a mysterious video featuring Vera Lynn’s rendition of I’ll Be Seeing You, reports the Express.

American Horror Story’s forthcoming season will follow the Kim Kardashian -fronted Delicate, which broadcast from September 2023 through April 2024.

Fans have since started theorising that the 13th instalment could be its final chapter and revisit a previous narrative.

It’s scheduled to premiere on FX in precisely one year’s time, 31st October, 2026.

Numerous fans have already flocked to social media to express their enthusiasm, with one X user writing: “Ariana Grande will be in AHS season 13!!! What a Halloween treat!”

Another declared: “ariana in AHS alongside all the iconic actresses that carried the series… y’all IM GAGGING-“

One particularly enthusiastic Ariana fan commented: “Ariana Grande is about to be that girl yet again in the next 12 months.

“She can essentially win an Emmy (Wicked TV special, AHS 13), an Oscar (Wicked), and another Grammy (Brighter Days Ahead MV, any ES deluxe nomination).

“She would only need the Tony to become an EGOT. She’s been that girl and I will be seated for each of her projects.”

Have you already marked the 13th season of American Horror Story in your diary?

American Horror Story season 13 premieres 31st October 2026 on FX.

Oct. 31 (UPI) — The White House is taking heat for construction and remodeling projects initiated by President Donald Trump as it opens up for tours again, and the president was touting the work being done in social media posts Friday.

Trump showed off images of the Lincoln Bedroom’s newly remodeled bathroom, which was lined from floor to ceiling with what he said was “black and white polished Statuary marble.”

He claimed the bathroom was “very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!” Trump made seven Truth Social posts about the bathroom renovations with multiple photos.

The bathroom has gold fixtures and a large chandelier.

Critics were quick to point out that while people are losing health insurance and food benefits, Trump was busy remodeling.

“Donald Trump actually cares more about his toilet than he does about fixing your healthcare,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on X.

“Millions of people are being kicked off of food assistance and millions can’t afford health care anymore. But don’t worry everyone! Trump got a new bathroom,” commentator Harry Sisson said on X. “So tone deaf, out of touch, and disgusting.”

Visitors might get a glimpse soon as first lady Melania Trump announced Friday that tours will reopen at the White House on Dec. 2, “with an updated route offering guests the opportunity to experience the history and beauty of the People’s House,” a press release said.

“The decorations in each room will be thoughtfully designed and curated under the direction of first lady Melania Trump,” the release said. “Visitors will have the opportunity to enjoy the beloved annual tradition that transforms the White House into a festive reflection of the spirit, warmth, faith and hope of the holiday season.”

Trump’s critics are also making life difficult for construction companies that have government contracts to work on the new ballroom where the East Wing once stood.

Many of the contractors have taken down their websites, saying the sites are undergoing maintenance as people make posts and send e-mails shaming them for their work, the New York Daily News reported.

“How dare you destroy the people’s house!!!! You are a traitor and should be driven out of business. … You suck!” said one review left on a company’s Yelp page Thursday.

“Backstabbers who hate America and worship the AntiChrist. Took money from Trump and did work without a valid permit. These people are scum,” another said.

Demolition began on the East Wing to build the $300 million ballroom Oct. 20, sparking anger because of the speed of the demolition and lack of proper permits and notice.

Trump also announced on Truth Social Friday that he had inspected construction on the Kennedy Center. Earlier, The Washington Post reported that ticket sales for the center had dropped appreciably since Trump took over the performing arts venue and purged its board.

“It is really looking good!” he wrote. “The exterior columns, which were in serious danger of corrosion if something weren’t done, are completed, and look magnificent in White Enamel — Like a different place!

“Marble is being done, stages are being renovated, new seats, new chairs and new fabrics will soon be installed, and magnificent high-end carpeting throughout the building,” Trump wrote.

French actor Tchéky Karyo, who had a starring role in the film Nikita and the TV series The Missing, has died aged 72.

Karyo, who was born in Turkey but grew up in Paris, died of a cancer on Friday, AFP news agency reported.

Known largely for supporting roles, Karyo acted in films for nearly four decades, finding a second career in TV series in his final years.

Karyo’s wife, actress Valérie Keruzoré, and their children announced his death in a statement to the news agency.

Karyo first made his mark in crime thriller La Balance (1982) and he played the handler Bob in Luc Besson’s assassin film Nikita (1990).

BBC audiences might best remember him for his role in The Missing (2014).

The first eight-part series, about the search for a missing boy in France, starred Karyo as French detective Julien Baptiste. James Nesbitt and Frances O’Connor played the boy’s parents.

The second eight-part series, about a missing girl in Germany, was brodcast in 2016. Karyo returned as Baptiste, with David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes as the girl’s parents.

Both series received positive reviews, with critics praising the cast, especially Karyo’s performance.

In February 2019, a spin-off series titled Baptiste was broadcast on BBC One.

Karyo was born on 4 October 1953 in Istanbul, the son of a Turkish lorry driver of Spanish-Jewish origin and a Greek mother, Le Monde newspaper writes.

After several years as a theatrical actor, he saw his role in La Balance earn him a nomination for the César Award for Best Male Revelation.

With his strong jaw and penetrating stare, he went on to star in dozens of films of all kinds.

Other French films included Besson’s Joan of Arc (1993) and the anti-war epic A Very Long Engagement (2004). He was also cast in Ridley Scott’s 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) and in the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995).

One of his starring roles was as the medieval prophet Nostradamus in the 1994 film of the same name, while his tiniest role was undoubtedly in Amélie (2001) where he only appeared as a face on an ID photograph in an album.

EAMONN Holmes has been dealt a double blow as he deals with ‘relationship issues’ and a split from his management company.

In September, we revealed the veteran broadcaster, 65, had been lavishing expensive gifts on his younger girlfriend Katie Alexander, 43, amid a strained spell.

And it appears things are still rocky, with a source telling the Mail that they’re spending an increasing amount of time apart.

The insider said: “He’s grumpier than ever and his health problems really aren’t helping, but instead of moving closer to Katie and settling, he’s spending more time with his family in Belfast, often without her.”

The couple, who first began speaking as friends on social media platform X in 2015, became romantic last year – just months after Eamonn’s split from wife Ruth Langsford was made public.

To make matters worse, Eamonn is no longer represented by InterTalent Rights Group and his manager Jonathan Shalit, who has overseen his career since 2022.

READ MORE ON EAMONN HOLMES

MONEY TALKS

Why Eamonn Holmes is spending BIG on glam girlfriend… insiders reveal truth

EA-MONEY HOLMES

Eamonn Holmes embarks on money-spinning tour to rake in cash amid divorce

Prior to that, Eamonn had enjoyed a fruitful relationship with YMU, who continue to represent his ex-wife Ruth Langsford.

Relations between Eamonn and YMU soured in 2021 when the GBNews star allegedly felt his telly rival Phillip Schofield was receiving preferential treatment.

This was prior to Schofield being axed from ITV for lying about a relationship with a younger male member of staff.

At the time, Eamonn was livid that he and Ruth had been let go from their Friday slot on the show after 14 years of service. They were replaced by Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary.

Now, Eamonn has lost another longstanding gig.

Virgin radio host Ryan Tubridy has replaced him as host of The Irish Post Awards in London – a role Eamonn has held since 2013.

A difficult performance last year, in which Eamonn struggled with mobility issues amid chronic health problems, reportedly prompted bosses to look for an alternative.

A source said: “The truth is that Eamonn is an Irish legend but things didn’t really go well last time – and it’s felt that it’s time he moved over for the more appropriate talent waiting in the wings.

“This time around, it just felt foolhardy to stick with him even though he’s been such a big part of things for so long.”

The Sun has contacted an InterTalent representative for comment.

Despite the reports of low mood, Eamonn isn’t resting on his laurels.

He recently announced a six date Northern Irish tour titled This Is My Life.

It will delve into his “humble beginnings” in Belfast to the “dazzling heights” of national TV.

The synopsis continues: “From triumph to tragedy, named after Eamonn Andrews, don’t miss Eamonn Holmes – This is My Life.”

BENEFIT BOOST

Exact amount benefit payments will rise and how it will affect YOU explained

OUR GIRL IN LA

Inside Michelle Keegan’s Hollywood plans… & why Mark’s sweet promise is key

Tickets cost £25, or for a meet and greet it’s £35. 

A Tunisian court has sentenced Ahmed Souab, a lawyer and fierce critic of President Kais Saied, to five years in prison, his lawyer said, in a case that rights groups say marks a deepening crackdown on dissent in the North African country.

Defence lawyer Yosr Hamid said on Friday that her client had received an additional three-year sentence of “administrative supervision” after he was arrested in April following criticism of the legal process in a trial of prominent figures, including opposition leaders.

Souab’s trial on “anti-terror” charges lasted just seven minutes, according to Hamid, who voiced fears it sets a troubling legal precedent.

Hundreds of opposition figures, lawyers, journalists, trade unionists and humanitarian workers in Tunisia are being prosecuted for “conspiracy” or in connection with a “fake news” decree by authorities.

That legislation, Decree Law 54, has been criticised by rights activists, who are concerned over its broad interpretation by some courts.

Souab, 68, was not allowed to appear in court on Friday, declining to testify via videolink, according to Hamid. His legal team refused to enter a plea under the conditions.

Souab faces around a dozen charges related to the presidential decree on false information.

“The hearing lasted only seven minutes” before the judge retired to deliberate, Hamid told the AFP news agency on Friday.

He said there was a “lack of fundamental grounds for a fair trial” and that the decision to sentence after a one-day trial set “a precedent”.

Mongi Souab, the defendant’s brother, said authorities “prevented family members from entering” the court, criticising the brevity of the trial.

‘A dangerous escalation’

Souab was arrested in April after criticising the trial process for about 40 prominent figures, including opposition leaders, in a case related to “conspiracy against state security”.

Among those targeted in that case are figures from what was once the biggest party, Ennahdha, such as the leader and former Speaker of Parliament Rached Ghannouchi, former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, former Minister of Justice Noureddine Bhiri, and Said Ferjani, a member of the party’s political executive.

Souab was one of the principal defence lawyers.

After a trial involving just three hearings, without closing arguments or defence pleas, Souab accused authorities of putting “a knife to the throat of the judge who was to deliver the verdict”.

An anti-terrorism court interpreted the comment as a threat to the judges, and he was detained over it, but Souab’s lawyers said it was a reference to the huge political pressure on judges.

Heavy prison sentences of up to 74 years were handed down to those accused in the “conspiracy” mega-trial. The appeal related to that trial is scheduled to take place on November 17.

Silencing dissenting voices

Several dozen people demonstrated outside the court on Friday, brandishing photos of Souab and chanting that the country was “under repression and tyranny”.

Several Tunisian and foreign NGOs have decried a rollback of rights and freedoms since Saied seized full powers in 2021 in what critics have called a coup.

Separately on Friday, Tunisian authorities ordered the suspension of the Nawaat journalists’ group, which runs one of the country’s leading independent investigative media outlets, as part of a widening crackdown.

The one-month suspension follows similar actions against prominent civil society groups such as the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights and the Association of Democratic Women, both known for defending civil liberties.

Authorities cited financial audits linked to foreign funding as justification, but rights advocates said the real aim was to silence dissenting voices.

The National Union of Tunisian Journalists condemned the suspension as “a dangerous escalation in efforts to muzzle independent journalism under an administrative guise”.

Founded in 2004, Nawaat carried out investigations on corruption and human rights abuses before and after the revolution. In a statement, it said it would not be “intimidated by the current political climate or campaigns of defamation”.

Russia has used its ground-launched 9M729 cruise missile to strike targets in Ukraine multiple times in recent months. This is the conclusion of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and it also tallies with reports from independent analysts who have been tracking the use of the missile, the original deployment of which led to the United States walking away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, Treaty in 2019.

“Russia’s use of the INF-banned 9M729 against Ukraine in the past months demonstrates Putin’s disrespect to the United States and President Trump’s diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Sybiha said.

Sybiha’s comments provide the first confirmation that Russia has used the 9M729 missile — known to NATO as the SSC-8 Screwdriver — in combat.

Another, unnamed Ukrainian senior official told Reuters that Russia had fired the 9M729 against targets in Ukraine 23 times since August 21 of this year. The same source said that the missile had been launched on two other occasions since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022; it is not immediately clear if these were also combat launches, but a combat evaluation is a strong possibility.

Notably, the Kremlin had, on August 4, said it would no longer limit where it deploys nuclear-capable missiles with ranges in excess of the former INF Treaty. That would suggest something of a change in policy, publicly at least, prior to the more regular combat employment of the 9M729.

According to Reuters, quoting another unnamed military source, one of the 9M729 missiles fired by Russia, on October 5 of this year, flew over 1,200 kilometers (746 miles) before hitting a target in Ukraine.

The range is significant, since it was this factor that the United States argued put the 9M729 in breach of the INF Treaty, which put a limit of 500 kilometers (310 miles) on ground-launched missiles, nuclear or conventional.

If the military source’s information is accurate, then it would confirm that, as expected, the 9M729 is able to fly far beyond the now-defunct INF Treaty limits.

As to the veracity of the Ukrainian comments on the use of the 9M729, Douglas Barrie, Senior Fellow for Military Aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), told TWZ that he considered them to be plausible.

“If you think what the Russians have been doing elsewhere in terms of their weapons, the things that they have had in the locker and wanted to test, then you can see why they would want to use it,” Barrie said.

For its part, Russia has always denied that the 9M729 violated the now-defunct nuclear arms control treaty. At the same time, it accused the United States of violating the same treaty through the construction of Aegis Ashore missile defense sites in Europe, which it argues can be used to fire the BGM-109 Tomahawk land attack cruise missile, something that U.S. officials deny.

According to the Missile Threat website produced at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the 9M729 can actually hit targets as far away as 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles). Meanwhile, Douglas Barrie at the IISS says that he assesses the missile to have a likely range at least in excess of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles).

There is some evidence that backs up the claims of the 9M729’s use in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials provided Reuters with images of debris after a Russian attack on the Ukrainian village of Lapaiivka on October 5, which purportedly involved the 9M729. This struck a residential building, killing four people, at a distance of over 600 kilometers (373 miles) from the Russian border.

Reportedly, these images include two missile fragments that were marked 9M729.

These images were reviewed by Jeffrey Lewis, Distinguished Scholar of Global Security at Middlebury College, who agreed that they were consistent with the 9M729’s expected appearance. In particular, the missile body and engine, as well as the distinct markings, pointed to the 9M729, according to Lewis’s analysis.

The Kremlin has not commented on the alleged use of the 9M729.

Russia only publicly acknowledged the existence of the 9M729 in November 2018, though it reportedly entered development sometime in the mid-2000s.

In 2019, Russia publicly displayed the launch canisters for the 9M729 and its associated transporter erector launcher, or TEL, and offered some details about the complete system.

At that time, Russia said that the 9M729 featured an improved guidance system and a larger warhead compared to the older 9M728, known to NATO as the SSC-7 Southpaw, another weapon understood to have been used by Russia against Ukraine. Russia argued that the 9M729 was longer, heavier, and actually had less range than its predecessor. The new TEL can also carry four missiles, while the older vehicle associated with the 9M728/SSC-7 could only fire two before needing to reload.

Russia has said that the 9M729 has a range of just less than 300 miles, which would be clearly contradicted by the latest information from Ukraine, provided it is accurate.

The more regular employment of the 9M729 would provide Russia with another cruise missile option for striking Ukraine. Up until now, it has primarily relied on the air-launched Kh-101 cruise missile, as well as the Kalibr, which can be launched from surface combatants and submarines. All of these weapons, 9M728 and 9M729 included, are subsonic.

However, compared to other land-based options, the 9M729 offers Russia the advantage that it can be launched from locations deeper inside Russia. It is also mobile, meaning that it is relatively easy to relocate and to conceal, so it can be fired from different locations and axes, making it harder for already hard-pressed Ukrainian air defenses to deal with.

There are several other reasons why Russia might now be using the 9M729.

It could be that numbers of the Kh-101 and Kalibr are running low, with Russia’s military-industrial complex, hampered by Western sanctions, which especially affect high-technology components of the kind that precision-guided weapons rely on, unable to backfill the arsenal sufficiently. Existing 9M729 rounds would provide another option to boost stocks of standoff weapons.

Secondly, there is the issue of signaling to Ukraine’s allies in the West.

The reported use of the 9M729 comes as Kyiv pushes for the United States to supply it with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Like the 9M729, these would be ground-launched weapons and would be able to strike targets deep inside Russia with a very high degree of precision. Unlike the 9M729, the Tomahawk was not outlawed under the INF Treaty, since, at that time, it was only sea-launched.

As far as Kyiv is concerned, having access to weapons like the Tomahawk would put additional pressure on Moscow to end its war in Ukraine.

Russian officials, including Putin, have warned that supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks would be a dangerous escalation.

Russian employment of the 9M729 also serves as a message to NATO nations in Europe, most of which fall well within its assumed range.

In that sense, employing the 9M729 also serves to send a clear message to the West that Russia won’t bow to pressure, especially over the conflict in Ukraine. Other examples include recent tests of high-profile nuclear-capable weapons like the Poseidon nuclear-powered, nuclear-tipped, ultra-long-endurance torpedo, which you can read about here, and the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, discussed here.

Another new weapon, the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, has also been used against Ukraine by Russia. Today, Ukraine claimed that its security service and military intelligence destroyed one of these missile systems during a covert operation at the Kapustin Yar testing range, in the Astrakhan region of southern Russia.

In the United States, meanwhile, President Donald Trump issued a statement this week saying he “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.” The reason, Trump explained, was because of “other countries [sic] testing programs.”

The exact meaning of this statement remains unclear, but the possible implications are something we have discussed in detail.

At this point, we still don’t know with certainty that Russia is now using the 9M729 cruise missile against Ukrainian targets. However, considering its employment of other long-range weapons in the conflict, and the Kremlin’s ongoing efforts to send threatening signals toward Europe as Washington seeks a peace settlement, it certainly seems to fit that pattern.

Contact the author: [email protected]

President Trump’s favorite musical is, famously, “Les Misérables,” but few fans have been storming the barricades to get into the Kennedy Center this season.

The Washington Post reports that sales for the current season of music, dance and theater at the Washington, D.C., cultural institution have declined dramatically since the president’s inauguration and his subsequent takeover of the Kennedy Center’s leadership.

The Post cites data showing the Kennedy Center has sold only 57% of its tickets from September to mid October, many of which are believed to be comped giveaways. That contrasts with a 93% ticket sale rate through the same period last year.

The venues surveyed include the Opera House, the Concert Hall and the Eisenhower Theater, with performances by the National Symphony Orchestra, touring Broadway musicals and dance troupes. Out of 143,000 possible seats for the current season, 53,000 have not yet sold. When fans have bought tickets, they’ve spent less than half as much money from September to the first half of October 2025 compared with the same time last year — the lowest total since 2018 other than the height of the 2020 pandemic.

After Trump’s election, he appointed Republican diplomat and former State Department spokesperson Richard Grenell to lead the Kennedy Center, whose board elected Trump as its president. The new leadership fired several longtime staffers, and prominent board members and leaders like Ben Folds left the organization.

““I couldn’t be a pawn in that,” Folds told The Times. “Was I supposed to call my homies like Sara Bareilles and say, ‘Hey, do you want to come play here?’”

Artists that do perform at the Kennedy Center have noted a change in the audience. Yasmin Williams, a singer-songwriter who performed in September after a contentious email exchange with Grennell, said that “During my Kennedy Center show on Thursday night, a group of Tr*mp supporters boo’d me when I mentioned Ric Grenell and seemed to be there to intimidate me,” yet “playing that Malcolm X video in that space and forcing this current administration to reckon with the damage they’ve caused, while also promoting joy and the power of music to the audience … this is why I do what I do.” (Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi told the Post that “This is an absolutely ridiculous claim.”)

Grennell, for his part, said on X that that “We are doing the big things that people want to see. We are seeing a huge change because people are recognizing that they want to be a part of something that is common-sense programming.” In August, Trump announced his picks for Kennedy Center honors, including actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone, glam-rockers KISS, singer Gloria Gaynor, country music star George Strait and English actor and comedian Michael Crawford.

Oct. 31 (UPI) — Those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program shoudl continue to do so in November and possibly beyond after two federal court rulings ordered program funding.

Federal judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts on Friday ordered the Trump administration to continue providing SNAP benefits amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.

U.S. District Court of Massachusetts Judge Indira Talwani told the Trump administration to access available funds to continue providing SNAP benefits while the federal government shutdown continues on its 31st day, according to CNN.

Talwani cited a contingency fund containing $5.2 billion that Congress had appropriated to help fund SNAP benefits when needed, but acknowledged the program’s monthly cost is $9 billion.

“This court has now clarified that defendants are required to use those contingency funds as necessary for the SNAP program,” Talwani said in her 15-page ruling.

“While these contingency funds reportedly are insufficient to cover the entire cost of SNAP for November, defendants also may supplement the contingency funds by authorizing a transfer of additional funds,” she said.

Talwani on Thursday heard oral arguments from the Justice Department and attorneys representing 25 states that sued the Trump administration to continue SNAP benefits.

Shortly after Talwani submitted her ruling on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island issued an oral ruling blocking the Trump administration from not funding SNAP benefits that provide food support for 42 million recipients across the United States, CNBC reported.

The benefits lack funding as Senate Democrats, during 13 votes, overwhelmingly have voted against a funding resolution that would keep the federal government funded and open, including the SNAP benefits, through Nov. 21.

Because there is no funding available for the SNAP program, Justice Department attorney Tyler Becker said the program does not exist.

“There is no SNAP program and, as a result, the government cannot just provide SNAP benefits,” Becker argued.

McConnell rejected the argument and, like Talwani, said the Trump administration must use congressionally appropriated contingency funds to continue providing at least some of the benefits that are due starting on Saturday.

While the Trump administration has been ordered to fund SNAP benefits via the U.S. Department of Agriculture, many will experience delays in getting them due as the USDA and respective states need time to access and distribute the benefits.

President Donald Trump on Friday told reporters the government could fund SNAP benefits past Saturday.

He said it would be easier if Senate Democrats voted in favor of the continuing resolution to fund the government while negotiating policy differences in the eventual 2026 fiscal year budget.

The fiscal year started Oct. 1, but so did the shutdown after the Senate failed to muster the 60 votes needed to approve it and keep the government open.

The shutdown will last at least through Monday after the Senate adjourned for the weekend Thursday.

Karen Hauer has hit back at the judges after her Argentine tango split the panel on last week’s heat of Strictly Come Dancing where she set an Argentine tango to an Usher track

Karen Hauer has hit back at the judges after her Argentine tango split the panel on last week’s Strictly Come Dancing. The professional dancer, 43, crafted a routine set to Usher track Caught Up and it received a mixed reaction from Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.

During an appearance with celebrity partner Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who is known for starring on BBC’s Gladiators, on Friday’s Halloween edition of It Takes Two, Karen was asked if she will be avoiding the dance from now on. She joked: “”Probably! That’s fine.”

The star then insisted that she really enjoyed doing it and she ‘got the assignment‘ and did what she was asked to do even though it is ‘a shame’ how it all turned out.

READ MORE: Claudia Winkleman’s horrific Halloween as daughter’s dress caught fireREAD MORE: Amber Davies faces major blow as family set to miss rest of Strictly journey

She added: “No, do you know what? I absolutely loved that and it’s just a shame sometimes. If you want me to do an Argentine classical, then give me the music and I’ll do it. I got the assignment!”

“That was the assignment! Literally. I was just a bit like…we had a really beautiful balance. The judges have a really hard job to do, I just wish they liked it!”

During the live show, Craig claimed that the couple, who eventually received a combined score of 30 for their efforts. seemed to simply be ‘walking’ the routine. He said: “I felt like you were walking through it, standing, placing, standing, placing and not actually dancing step to step.

“And I wasn’t entirely fond of throwing all the groove stuff in there.”

But Harry was not afraid to hit back at the comments as they happened. He said: “I was given a task to do an Argentine tango to Usher. I took it on, I done it to the best of my ability and that’s all I can do.” The dance was all done as part of Icons week, and big music names like Dolly Parton, Spice Girls and Johnny Cash were also honoured, amongst a whole host of others.

Fans at home rushed to social media to defend Harry and Karen amid the negative feedback. One said: “Why have an Icons week, make the celebs dance to music that’s not really suited to the dance then criticise them for bringing a bit of the icon’s style into the dance? Bal and Harry especially.”

Another said: “what are they even talking about obviously an argentine tango to USHER is gna be a little different #Strictly” and a third added: “I dont get the “whyd you add groove/ bump n grind” comments… you gave the guy Usher to mimic?? with an argentine tango?? so like what was he supposed to do.”

Harry has already had a taste of Strictly before making his debut as a contestant on this year’s series. He appeared on last year’s Christmas special where he was partnered with professional dancer Nancy Xu.

The sports star bagged one of the highest scores in the episode but lost to RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Tayce, who had danced with Kai Widdrington.

Announcing his return for the new series, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey said: “After the Christmas Special, it was so nice I just had to do it twice! I’m so excited to be part of the Strictly family this series and I’m ready to give it all I’ve got.

“I’ll be bringing tons of energy to light up the dance floor. Let’s hope I’m as quick picking up the routines as I am on the track.”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

A surge in chikungunya cases has hit southern China, fuelled by climate change, urbanisation and global travel. Experts warn the next pandemic is inevitable – but have we learned enough from COVID-19 to be prepared?

Presenter: Stefanie Dekker

Guests:
Carmen Perez Casas – Head of pandemic prevention, Unitaid
Albert Fox Cahn – Founder, Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP)

Footage shows FBI and state police vehicles in Dearborn, Michigan, near Fordson High School, conducting an investigation. This comes after FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post that multiple people allegedly plotting a violent “terrorist” Halloween weekend attack were arrested.

CELEBRITY Traitors star Tom Daley is diving head first into a pool of cash courtesy of a lucrative side hustle.

The champion diver raked in more than £100,000 from his knitting hobby in 2024 – two years on from setting up his Made With Love label.

Profit eluded him for the first couple of years, but his woolly items are now coining it in.

Annual accounts for MWLTD Ltd show he made a six-figure profit in 2024 and left £57,000 in cash in the firm’s coffers.

He sells £8.99 balls of wool, patterns and leisurewear via his website and would-be buyers are told by Tom: “A lot of you know that I absolutely adore knitting.

“It’s been a journey for me that started when I first picked up my knitting needles in March 2020. Fast forward and I’m so proud to introduce these kits to you all so that you can experience the joy I found learning to knit.

“I designed these knit kits to help encourage you to pick up those needles, learn the basics, and fall in love with knitting at the same time – all whilst creating something to show off or pass on.”

DIVING IN

Tom Daley reveals behind the scenes clash with Celeb Traitors bosses

TRECHEROUS SHOW

Tom Daley reveals Celeb Traitors stars with kids got ‘special allowances’

Wool vest kits start at £53. A pattern and wool for a sweater costs up to £72.

Tom, who hosts Channel 4’s Game of Wool, has said he was banned from wearing his own knitwear when appearing on Celebrity Traitors.

The Olympic gold medallist, 31, revealed in a new interview that self-promotion was prohibited during filming for the BBC gameshow.

The former diving champion appeared as a Faithful contestant on the programme alongside singer Paloma Faith, presenter Stephen Fry and broadcaster Kate Garraway, with the Traitors being Jonathan Ross, Alan Carr and singer Cat Burns.

He also added that he was constantly knitting when they weren’t filming scenes for the show.

“Any time I was in the hotel, I was just knitting, knitting, knitting,” he said.

His latest foray into entertainment TV saw him murdered early on in Celebrity Traitors – and he wasn’t happy about it.

He told the Guardian: “They got rid of people who probably would have figured it out.”

Tom clashed with the show’s producers when he put forward the idea of returning from the dead so that he could continue to take part.

He explained: “I think what they should have considered is a resurrection, bringing someone back from the dead after, like, the first four murders.”

However, his novel suggestion was met with a disappointing no.

Oct. 31 (UPI) — Paraguayan President Santiago Peña has signed a decree designating Brazil’s criminal groups Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, as terrorist organizations “because of their actions that threaten Paraguay’s national sovereignty and institutional stability.”

The decree says the designation aligns with a state policy reaffirming the country’s commitment to democracy, the rule of law and national sovereignty. It also allows for tougher penalties and strengthens international cooperation on security and extradition.

“For us, there is no doubt that these are criminal groups seeking to destabilize countries, and we must confront them,” Peña said on TV Paraguay.

The move follows a major operation by Brazil’s state police targeting organized crime in two Rio de Janeiro favelas, which left more than 120 people dead, many of them believed to be members of Comando Vermelho. Brazilian authorities described it as one of the deadliest anti-crime operations in recent years.

In response, Paraguay’s National Defense Council ordered the highest level of alert along the entire border with Brazil and instructed the armed forces, National Police and Migration Directorate to increase personnel and resources to bolster national security.

Authorities also announced coordination with security forces from Brazil and Argentina to conduct joint patrols and surveillance operations at border crossings and transit zones to prevent members of those criminal groups from entering the country.

Interior Minister Enrique Riera said the operational plan is underway, prioritizing intelligence work, drone-based aerial surveillance and coordination between military and police units.

The plan also calls for intensifying efforts against smuggling and organized crime, especially at the end of the year.

Riera added that security will be reinforced at prisons housing members of these criminal organizations.

According to Paraguayan media, both criminal organizations have a strong presence along the Paraguay-Brazil border, where they operate networks involved in drug and arms trafficking and money laundering.

The PCC has been operating in Paraguay for more than a decade, with a history of prison riots and executions, while Comando Vermelho has also expanded its influence in recent years, particularly in the country’s northern region, the Paraguayan newspaper ABC reported.

China and the United States have agreed to ease their trade war – for now.

There have been concessions from both, with some of the most painful measures put on hold for a year.

So, what tactics did each side use in the battle between the world’s two biggest economies? Will they work? And what’s the longer-term outlook: agreement, or more trouble ahead?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Andy Mok – Senior Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization think tank in Beijing

Neil Thomas – Fellow on Chinese Politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis in Washington, DC

William Lee – Chief Economist at the Milken Institute in Los Angeles

A little over a year ago, Madi Diaz lay in bed in an apartment near Dodger Stadium sweating out a gnarly case of COVID-19.

The Nashville-based singer and songwriter had traveled to Los Angeles to record the follow-up to her album “Weird Faith,” which came out in early 2024 and would go on to earn two Grammy nominations, including one for a beautifully bummed-out duet with her friend Kacey Musgraves. But after three or four days of work in the studio, Diaz became sick just as the Dodgers were battling the Mets in last October’s National League Championship Series.

“I could literally see the stadium lights — there were drones everywhere and people honking and lighting things on fire,” she recalls. “I was just like, Why, L.A. — why?”

Her suffering in a city she once called home was worth it: “Fatal Optimist,” the LP Diaz eventually completed in time to release this month, is one of 2025’s most gripping — a bravely stripped-down set of songs about heartbreak and renewal arranged for little more than Diaz’s confiding voice and her folky acoustic guitar.

In the album’s opener, “Hope Less,” she wonders how far she might be willing to go to accommodate a lover’s neglect; “Good Liar” examines the self-deception necessary to keep putting up with it. Yet Diaz also thinks through the harm she’s doled out, as in “Flirting” (“I can’t change what happened, the moment was just what it was / Nothing to me, something to you”).

And then there’s the gutting “Heavy Metal,” in which she acknowledges that enduring the pain of a breakup has prepared her to deal with the inevitability of the next one.

“This record is me facing myself and going, ‘I have to stay in my body for this entire song,’ ” Diaz, 39, says on a recent afternoon during a return trip to L.A.

What makes the unguardedness of the music even more remarkable is that “Fatal Optimist” comes more than a decade and a half into a twisty-turny career that might’ve left Diaz more leathered than she sounds here.

Beyond making her own albums — “Fatal Optimist” is her sixth since she moved to Nashville in 2008 — she’s written songs for commercials and TV shows and for other artists including Maren Morris and Little Big Town; she’s sung backup for Miranda Lambert and Parker McCollum and even played guitar in Harry Styles’ band on tour in 2023.

Yet in a tender new song like “Feel Something,” about longing to “be someone who doesn’t know your middle name,” Diaz’s singing reveals every bruise.

“Music is a life force for Madi,” says Bethany Cosentino, the Best Coast frontwoman who tapped Diaz as a songwriting partner for her 2023 solo album, “Natural Disaster.” “She has to do it, and it’s so authentic and so real and so raw because it’s not coming from this place of ‘Well, guess I gotta go make another record.’ ”

“If she doesn’t put those emotions somewhere,” Cosentino adds, “I think she’ll implode.”

Which doesn’t mean that putting out a record as vulnerable as “Fatal Optimist” hasn’t felt scary.

“I was gonna say it’s like the emperor’s new clothes,” Diaz says with a laugh over coffee in Griffith Park. “But I know I’m not wearing any clothes.” Dressed in shorts and a denim shirt, her hair tucked beneath a ball cap, she sits at a picnic table outside a café she liked when she lived in L.A. from 2012 to 2017.

“For a second, I was like, Damn, I wish I’d brought my hiking shoes — could’ve gone up to the top,” she says. “I would absolutely have done that as my masochistic 28-year-old self. Hike in the heat of the day? Let’s go.”

Diaz points to a couple of touchstones for her LP’s bare-bones approach, among them Patty Griffin’s “Living With Ghosts” — “a star in Orion’s Belt,” as she puts it — and “obviously Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue,’ ” she says. “That’s just a duh.”

Like Mitchell, Diaz achieves a clarity of thought in her songs that only intensifies the heartache; also like Mitchell (not to mention Taylor Swift), she can describe a partner’s failings with unsparing precision.

“Some ‘I’m sorry’s’ are so selfish / And you just act like you can’t help it,” she sings in “Why’d You Have to Bring Me Flowers,” one of a handful of what she jokingly calls “folk diss tracks” on “Fatal Optimist.” It goes on: “Bulls— smile, in denial / We’ve been circling the block / We’ve been in a downward spiral.”

“There are definitely a couple songs on this record where I felt apologetic as I was writing it,” she says. “Then when I finished it was just like: It had to be done.” She grins. “They’re tough,” she says of her exes. “They’ll be fine.”

Asked whether any of her songs express her feelings in a way she wasn’t capable of doing with the ex in question, she nods.

“I’d say I could get about halfway there in real life,” she says. “It’s almost like I couldn’t finish the thought within the relationship, and that was the signal that we couldn’t go onward. Or that I couldn’t go onward.”

Has writing about love taught her anything about herself and what she wants?

“I travel a lot — I’m all over the place,” she says. “And I really like to come and go as I please. But it’s funny: In retrospect, I think maybe I was chasing a relationship that was a little more traditional, even though I don’t know if I can actually be that way. So that’s a weird thing to be aware of.”

Madi Diaz in Pasadena.

(Annie Noelker / For The Times)

Diaz grew up home-schooled in a Quaker household in rural Pennsylvania and learned to play piano and guitar when she was young; when she was a teenager, her talent took her to Philadelphia’s Paul Green School of Rock, whose founder was later accused of abuse and sexual misconduct by dozens of former students, including Diaz. (“It was a really toxic place,” she told the New York Times.)

She studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston before dropping out and heading to Nashville, where she started making her name as a singer-songwriter operating at the intersection of country and pop. After a few years of fruitful grinding, she came to L.A. to “see how high the ceiling was,” she says, and quickly fell in with a group of musician friends.

“We used to love going to the Smog Cutter,” she says of the shuttered Silver Lake dive bar, “to have a couple Bud Lights and sing Mariah Carey really poorly.”

Diaz was making money writing songs — Connie Britton sang one of her tunes on the soapy ABC series “Nashville” — but she struggled to achieve the kind of liftoff she was looking for as an artist. “Turned out the ceiling was quite high,” she says now with a laugh.

Along with the professional frustrations came “a nuclear explosion of a breakup” with a fellow songwriter, Teddy Geiger. “They were going through a huge identity shift,” Diaz says of Geiger, who came out as transgender, “and we worked in the same industry, and it just kind of felt like there wasn’t a place for me here.”

Diaz returned to Nashville, which didn’t immediately super-charge her career. “I was bartending at Wilburn Street Tavern and making Jack White nachos,” she recalls. “He would never remember this, but I remember. I was like, This is my life now.”

In fact, her acclaimed 2021 album “History of a Feeling” — with songs inspired by the complicated dynamics of her and Geiger’s split — finally brought the kind of attention she’d been working toward. She signed with the respected indie label Anti- (whose other acts include Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman) and scored the road gig with Styles after he reached out via DM; she also became an in-demand presence in Nashville’s close-knit songwriting scene.

“I don’t know of anybody in town that doesn’t love Madi,” says Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, who adds that Diaz “has instincts about melodies that are all her own. Sometimes I’m thinking, ‘How’s she gonna fit that into the phrasing?’ But she always does.”

For “Fatal Optimist,” Diaz took an initial pass at recording her songs with a full band before deciding they called for the minimalist setup she landed on with her co-producer, Gabe Wax, at his studio in Burbank.

“We did it with no headphones, no click track, no grid,” she says. “It speeds up and slows down, and it goes in and out of tune as instruments do.” (One unlikely sonic inspiration was a singles collection by the pioneering riot grrrl band Bikini Kill, which she hailed for its “still-kind-of-figuring-it-out energy.”)

Diaz describes herself as a perfectionist but says “Fatal Optimist” was about “trying to find our way through the cracks of imperfection to break the ground and sit on the surface. I feel so proud that we let it live there.”

She’s touring behind the album this fall, playing solo shows — including a Nov. 20 date at the Highland Park Ebell Club — meant to preserve the album’s solitary vibe.

“I don’t know if I’d really thought that through when I made the decision,” she says with a laugh.

As good as she is on her own — and for all the torment she knows another relationship is likely to hold — “I’m a die-hard loyalist,” Diaz says. “I’m still looking for connection more than anything else.”